Cannabis vending machine seized by New Zealand police

A marijuana-selling vending machine in New Zealand was seized by local police on Thursday (March 22).

Also taken were NZ $27,000 (£14,000 / US $22,000) in cash, 700g of cannabis, bongs and pipes, while four people were taken into custody.

The machine, found in the New Lynn Daktory in Auckland, was selling the drug at the inflated price of NZ $20 (£10 / US $8) for a one-gram bag.

The Daktory, which campaigns for legalisation of the drug, was attempting to replicate the legal cannabis cafés in Amsterdam.

ABS-CBN News reported Detective Inspector Bruce Scott as saying: "Wherever there is drug offending of any kind, police will act swiftly. We certainly do not take a softly-softly approach."

Despite the illegality of cannabis possession in New Zealand, it is the third most widely-consumed drug in the country after alcohol and tobacco, and the country ranks ninth in the world in terms of the percentage of users.

Activist Julian Crawford had told Fairfax NZ News before the raid: "[The Daktory] is basically anonymous. It's a way for people who don't want to have to associate with gangs or criminals to buy cannabis in a safe environment.

"It's got lots of couches, there's table tennis, a pool table, darts and games - snack food is available," he said. "It's been set up as an experiment to show how things could operate if marijuana was legalized."

He had also claimed that any profit made was put into community projects in the local area and that there was a strict over-18s policy.